Clippers Vs. Pacers Official Game Thread 2013-12-01 (P. 6)

TOUGH loss today- a very frustrating game where the Clippers had so many chances down the stretch to pull out. Turnovers after turnovers, missed shots, and then of course giving up offensive rebounds at the end. The starting unit was badly outplayed by the Pacer starting 5. Chris Paul was too passive early, and Willie could not hit any jumper. Blake & DJ had their moments, but were outplayed by David West & Roy Hibbert. TWICE in the game two the two friends battled for the rebound and knocked the ball out of bounds.

Jared Dudley vs Paul George was not a good matchup. Ironically Jamal Crawford actually did a better job guarding him than Jared. Dudley hit a couple of shots, but just couldn't make up for it with his lack of athleticism, quickness & turnovers.

The second unit provided good energy and speed and helped keep the team in the game. Hollins had good energy, & Bullock did a solid job. Ultimately, however, you wish that Crawford would have hit a couple more shots, & Collison had converted a couple of easy layups & of course 2 missed FT's. Definitely can't fault the energy, quickness & effort, however, as the small lineup almost got the win.

FightOnRon

12/01/2013 - 08:37 PM PST

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Just got home,this is 100% spot on , with rebounding the number one fault I saw. Now no JJ for 6 -8 weeks,we need to find some help at guard

pageC4

12/01/2013 - 09:21 PM PST

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Everyone else will have to chip in offensively now that Redick is out. The team can't afford to have Chris Paul be hesitant on offense or simply look to pass only. DJ also needs to up that offense as well. With all players in the lineup position players can afford to only do what is expected of their position, but with Redick out they need to chip in offensively

Icecoldclipper

12/01/2013 - 10:00 PM PST

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Paul George and David West took 22 and 23 shots while Chris Paul and Blake Griffin took 15 and 13 shots. This has to stop against elite teams and especially with JJ Redick out they need to be taking more shots early and often. Doc wet the bed in this one there was no reason not to play Bullock more minutes the way he frustrated George and hitting shots. I know Paul has some small rest but Doc has to put more faith in Blake late in games on the block.

Icecoldclipper

12/01/2013 - 10:13 PM PST

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I just can't see Green and Dudley working unless Paul and Griffin pick up their scoring early. Even still the energy between the two is up and down, Willie will scrap but he won't be a overall impact guy consistently. The reason Butler and Green worked was at least Butler was aggressive on offense so when he was on he was a true third option. We need Barnes back asap.

Kingkanyon

12/01/2013 - 10:22 PM PST

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Doc wet the Bed, Trippin.

First off he probably does need to give Bullock more minutes, but maybe he doesn't want Bullock to hit the Rookie wall by playing him too much, and maybe he wants to give Dudley all the time in the world to get things together, it is barely 1 month into the season.

As for Blake, he needs to be more Decisive when he gets the ball, and maybe the Team and Doc will have more faith in him, he still has to many time were he gets the ball, holds it for 5 seconds, then makes his move. The truth is he needs to know what move he's going to before he catches the ball. Right now he doesn't do it enough. I'm with you though he needs to get the ball more, but he's got to demand it the ball and then when he gets it he needs to do something with it. He has way too many possession's were he catches it, holds it then turn's the ball over. He has good games were that's not the case, but this is one of the games were it was.

Also Paul George shot 10 for 23 and went to the line 3 times, I'd say that was a good gave vs Paul George.

wessleejr

12/01/2013 - 10:23 PM PST

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Joke or not I'm yes for that, as I said before Butler is better than him. i hope we can bring back odom.

Icecoldclipper

12/01/2013 - 11:12 PM PST

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It's early to be calling for rookie wall. It's one game and the match up worked the entire game. Going forward the minutes are game to game but there is no reason Reggie should not of played more this game. It was beyond obvious I think Doc just did not want to show up Dudley by playing Bullock beyond his minutes.

Griffin is also a faciliator his job is to also help Paul create plays. When Blake is scanning the floor he usually finds an open shooter. My problem with it is that should all come once the team has a couple of points to build on.

The starters have struggled to start games ever since the bench started up. If we can establish our stars early it only helps the team late in games.

cleepers

12/02/2013 - 10:45 AM PST

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Hard to be too mad about this one. 2 of our top 7 guys out and Dudley obviously suffering. They made a bunch of hail-mary 3's and got a couple of fortunate bounces and calls down the stretch. All that said, we were still in the game.

Agree that Doc should have rode Reggie for bigger minutes. The rook earned it.

pageC4

12/02/2013 - 10:49 AM PST

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Bullock looked amazing. I think with his growth he deserves more minutes.

Voyeur

12/02/2013 - 10:59 AM PST

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A couple of things really tick me off thinking about them a day later. The 3-pointer "foul" they called on us. Wrong! And the ball hitting the baseline before going out of bounds that Blake picked up. I mean, COME ON REF! What does your instinct tell you about that play?

SIGH.

DocHollywood

12/02/2013 - 11:41 AM PST

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In 2013, there are plenty of SFs in the league that are better then Dudley, even when he's healthy. Caron Butler is NOT one of them. Maybe right now, today, Caron would play better, but not if Dudley was back to normal.

uncool

12/02/2013 - 11:54 AM PST

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I just watched the game, we won the game like 8 times... the b-ball god's and the refs were not on our side.

Silasie

12/02/2013 - 12:02 PM PST

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There was a point late in the 4th when Collisons foot was on the line and I thought just that (as in b-ball god's), "it's just not going to happen tonight" I said to myself.

uncool

12/02/2013 - 12:03 PM PST

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I blame Don McClain for Paul George being so damn good. I see Don training him & working on his shot at 360 healthclub in Reseda every offseason.

uncool

12/02/2013 - 12:08 PM PST

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Exactly, and all the shots that rimmed out, and the off rebs that came off crazy bounces... w/o JJ... I still think we're the better team.

Icecoldclipper

12/02/2013 - 12:15 PM PST

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Watched the full game again that was tough loss. Doc needs to reboot some things we need to do a better job team rebounding on the defensive end. Wing players should not leak out since none of them are athletic enough to get a shot around defenders. We need to have the team as a whole collapse on the ball and make those defensive rebounds and push as a unit up the floor. A team that did this very well was the Andre Miller and Andre Iggy 76ers they would rebound and the entire team would fly together like the Might Ducks V formation. lol

Add on we need our man to man defense from the starters to improve. Blake, Jordan, Dudley,JJ/Green, and even Paul need to find a way to make their men miss. I've seen all those guys contest shots and force difficult shots but why in the hell do they always still fall in?!?!?!

CP3Best

12/02/2013 - 01:55 PM PST

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I'm mad, I'm just gonna vent out here, cause the so called refs called only benefits for Indiana. That game was OURS!

CP3Best

12/02/2013 - 02:00 PM PST

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Indiana's record means sh*t to me now! THe first winning record team they face this season, and refs bail them out!

toohipcliptoslip

12/02/2013 - 02:41 PM PST

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Willie started during our undefeated streak and he was one of the best corner three point shooters in the league. He's cold that's all. He can start on a below average team. Last yr it took him several games to get out of the slump. If we need defense I'd prefer him over Jamal at the #2

Last yr 6.3 ppg, 80% FT

0.384, 0.442, 0.428 three pt %

itsLuigi

12/02/2013 - 03:04 PM PST

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they should try playing big against teams like indiana and the grizzlies

try putting antwan at the 3

toohipcliptoslip

12/02/2013 - 03:14 PM PST

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I agree that he fell asleep on a couple of plays that maybe cost us the game. Blake got schooled by West. West showed how important a back to the hoop game can be especially for an ox like Blake. Not only can West score but he sets a great screen for a shooter. BG has to learn this

All in all we shouldn't feel that bad. Although we lost we lost to a team that gave Miami a run for their cash. They showed last year they were contenders and may be better than Miami. The core of the team all played together last year under the same coach.

Even though CP BG and DJ played together last yr things were so different under VDN that you can almost say that they didn't. As an example DJ's development. They are playing under a new system and we now have a lot of shooters. The Pacers are a big problem because of their length and Doc did a good job with that. We had yet to encounter that.

The Pacers are supposedly the league's elite defensive team holding opponents to under 90ppg. If the shots that usually fell had fallen, add, in arguendo, 8 pts. Read a 3 pt win. Indiana didn't beat us. David West did.

I hate a loss but I don't feel that bad.

toohipcliptoslip

12/02/2013 - 03:16 PM PST

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Unfortunately Antwan is cold. I hope he's not going to be like Grant Hill and play one year too many.

toohipcliptoslip

12/02/2013 - 03:24 PM PST

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"Wait till he starts hitting threes"

Ralph Lawler.

One big and true criticism is that we don't have young athletic wing players. Is he the answer?

Voyeur

12/02/2013 - 04:56 PM PST

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I think Willie will be fine. We did well with him last year, but we also had a different offense with him. I think Doc and Alvin may have to change with the personnel...at least until JJ comes back. Last year we were pretty successful with Blake down low, then finding the open spot up shooters with kind of an inside out game. Also allowing Willie to cut to the basket at times. It's simple and certainly more predictable than Doc would like, but obviously we would mix some pick n roll in there. Maybe even give DJ the ball inside. I think it may be the only way until we get JJ back however.

A_DOG_NAMED_BUD

12/02/2013 - 06:48 PM PST

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It's Willie Time! I have faith in him that he'll step up to the challenge.

ClippersDA

12/02/2013 - 07:22 PM PST

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The gap between Redick and Willie is as wide as the Grand Canyon. Willie does not have anywhere near e level of creativity and craftiness that Redick has. With Redick we would have won this game. I don't think green and Dudley can start together. At least caron was making 3s at a relatively high rate last year.

tense2

12/02/2013 - 07:30 PM PST

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^Both Dudley and Green we're making 3's at a higher rate last year.

Voyeur

12/02/2013 - 08:16 PM PST

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Redick applies WAY more pressure than Green which makes all the difference in the world.

Willie may have had a better percentage than JJ but he only took 2.3 three point attempts a game. Redick took 6 attempts. Willie only took 5.4 field goal attempts per game overall. Redick 11.6. Combine that with Redick's movements as opposed to Willie's spot ups, one surely begins to understand the difference between the two players.

pageC4

12/02/2013 - 08:44 PM PST

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Who knows if he is the long term answer, but I think when you have players on your roster you should give them an audition. With Dudley struggling and Redick and Barnes out we do need to give Bullock some burn. So we will see what he can do out there. At worst he doesn't pan out, which isn't a big deal since we drafted him at the 25th spot i believe. But if he does pan out I can imagine him having a role similar to Danny Green on the Spurs. Either way we should try it and find out

tense2

12/02/2013 - 08:54 PM PST

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Understand nuances, just replying to the higher 3pt% statement.

Voyeur

12/02/2013 - 08:59 PM PST

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I see. My bad. It would help if I read all the posts...hard to do at work. lol

toohipcliptoslip

12/02/2013 - 10:23 PM PST

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Willie vs JJ. You would say JJ is good. You would say that Willie ain't that bad

Voyeur

12/02/2013 - 10:25 PM PST

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JJ > Willie > Old broken down version of Chauncey

CP3Heliflopter

12/02/2013 - 10:33 PM PST

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You get what you pay for. Willie is a vet min player and our 3rd string SG. However, remember last season we had a lot of success with him as the starting SG. Not sure why people are bashing him.

Voyeur

12/02/2013 - 10:40 PM PST

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I've said all along if we started Willie in the playoffs instead of Chauncey, we might have won last year's first round. Because we were better with Willie than Chauncey. Having said that, even with Willie, our offense was stagnant. Not so much with JJ.

This is why I suggest Doc almost go back to what worked last year until JJ comes back. But then again Doc and Alvin have something up their sleeves I'm sure.

Icecoldclipper

12/03/2013 - 12:18 AM PST

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Can't wait for the rematch!

Flushyriver

12/03/2013 - 11:21 AM PST

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Yeah I feel like Chris said something on this. He said that the system Doc runs is the same no matter who's running it. He was actually referring to Collison taking over for him while he was out, but I feel like it's the same in this case. I thought Willie would be running more offensive sets than his usual just because of the consistency in the system, but it looks like Crawford will absorb most of the missing shots.

pageC4

12/03/2013 - 10:31 PM PST

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Clippers stick to same old script after loss
By Arash Markazi
LOS ANGELES -- During the course of an NBA season, players and coaches develop certain go-to phrases and clichs to explain the team and the just-completed game.
It becomes so much a part of their lexicon that beat reporters quietly look at one another and smile when they are uttered again and again.
As good as the Los Angeles Clippers have been this season, two of coach Doc Rivers' go-to lines after a loss have been some variation of "we joined the game late" and "we didn't play with a purpose."
It's a....